Toy building block



Nov. 19, 1929.. J. RuTHERFoRb TOY BUILDING BLOCK FiledMarch 25, 1927 4Sheets-Sheet 2 I me/7 NV- 19, l929, J. RUTHERFORD 4 1,736,134

TOY BUILDINGBLOGK Filed Maren 25, 1927 K 4 sheets-sheet 3 f f JOHNEUTHEBFORD, OEsLINGEnLANns, NEW YORK, AssIGNOE` 'ro TEE,-EiiriaossINe.v

,. n-COMPA'NY, OE ALBANY, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OE NEW Yom: l.

TOY. EUILDING ELOoK Applieation mee-March 25, 1927. serial No. 178,191.v

- This invention relates to toy building .,blocks for childrens use, andits chief-obj ect is to provide blocks which will afford a morerealistic simulation of dwelling houses or i 6 other structures.v 'Inbuilding blocks as 'heretoforev made each block represented a singlebrick or stone, so that a considerable number had t`o.be assembledtomake a. structure even fairly resembling a real building,

Y10 and doors and windows could be representedl tures made'therefroinwere exceedingly rai1. being subjectto demolition by a mere touch, l:Often with very "distressing grief to the' youth# `ful builder.

My present invention in its preferred form obviates these, drawbacks ina novel manner, providing blocks,j`tha,t is, three-'dimensional p v25elements las distinguished from flat pieces ofj elghth,l One-,fif-ll,011@-iWIlty-fifth,f@11C-5y the sheet'lneta'l or the-like,` which can beassembled "by youn er childrento form miniature i l. buildings whichhave pleasingly realistic resemblance to .actual'buildings and whichare. not susceptible to collapse or demolition by any ordinarya'ccidentsuch as would completely destroy a Structure built-Of blocks of y vprior types. I j I My improved blocks ofthe preferred type donotrepresent single bricks I or stones, but

are building-units or sections, representing complete parts of adwelling house or other building, havin doors, windows, roofs, and otherfeatures O a building painted, printed.,

40 or otherwise'marked on appropriate surfaces' of the blocks, so thateven a single block can serve as a complete building, ifdesireigras forexample a small bungalow; While by? uttingblocks side by side and one ontop o the pther an indefinite variety of buildings may l,be lifted and'.carried aboutvwit-hout coming A apart. One theother handthe units canbe. readilyseparated without damage for refuse y Il' mentallyon'l a.cube," endl-'may comprise sing'le cubes; multiples of a cube, as two ormore y cubes ina single block;` and proper andima. cube vof one size,

" tions, on, 4which the houses may be erected,

be constructed, as one-story, twofstory, or fr three-story dwellings,and multi-'storye artment houses, with various types of roo s, as forexample fia-t, gabled, or hipped roofs, with porches, ells, fireplaces,and chimne s,` all matching or fitting together in arc 1- tecturallycorrect proportions. With .each set or outit of blocks I may alsoprovide a i supply of permanently plastic modeling mai teria-l.Suchmaterial is tough and sticky, so that a smallpellet pressed betweencon tlguoussurfaces ofthe building-sections, v

ne's's'to permit quite elaborate structures to in otherbuildings,

proper fractions of cubes, asa cube anda half, three-fourths of a cube,one-half, one# basicl cube being-preferablyof lthe same Oriathirty-three millimeter cube being` of convenien't'and suitable sizeReferring now tothe accompanying-"draw- 75v` ings, in which one form ofthe invention is? illustrated Figsrl to 8 inclusive show various'vblocks v.

in the form of building-sections, all based on Figsf'9 ltoV 14 inclusiveshowi'onja smaller scale .variousaccessory -parts which may besupplied'with the blocks.. Of these figures,

Fig. 9 shows series of yard- 'Or lawn secr with a side walk and a' curbvFig. 10 indi-" Qca'tes .how the yard or lawn sections'may be 7 hingedtogether so 'as to` fold `in'tocompact 'form when not in use; Fig,11s`hovvsv a i seriesof park7 sections, which may be ar# 90Thebuilding-sections fare based i.

lio

ranged inthe center ofthe streetto give a boulevard eect. Fig. 12 showsa sheet lof paper colored to re resent a section of a street with lawnsand s'dewalks on each side. Figs. 13 and 1d show, respectively, aminiature tree and lamp post.

Fig. lishows in boulevardor avenue constructed of my building outfits. p

Fig. 16shows a complete outfit, say one of the rather elaborate typerequired to make perspective a section of a with one such an assemblageas shown in Fig. 15. The building-sections 10, 11,`shown in Figs.;

1 and 2 are whole cubes of unit size, as vindicated by the dimensionalarrows, and it will be noted that they do not represent single bricks orstones. 0n the contrary each is a complete section or part of a house,bearing on its sides pictured representations of windows, doors, andside-boarding for a trame house orbricks tor a brick house. The top maybe Y l tions. size vertical and horizontal surfaces 17 may be a solidcolor, as green or red; and the botftom (not shown) may show only bricksor side-boarding, so that when turned on its side betweenother blocks itwill show a blank wall. The blocks may be made of light wood, and allthe surfaces are preferably painted first in appropriate colors say redor green on top and white or bu| on the sides and bottom. rlhe doors,windows, etc., are then printed on,'with a contrastivecolor, as brown orgreens,v The pictures may.include tlower boxes under the windows, andtrellises and shrubs or small treesV at the doors.

These units or sections are conveniently termed whole-story or 0ne-storysections. rl`he blocks of trapezoidal cross-section, Figs. 3 and 4, areach three-fourths of a cube of the same siezas the onefstory cube ofFig. 1 or' 2, the-edges 15 being an aliquot part of the unit dimension,say one-half, as indicated.V These sections are painted and print-ed torepresent half-stories,-and hence may be conveniently termed half-storysec-l The sloping surfaces 1,6v and the halfpainted green or red torepresent parts of the roof. The blocks may also be used for making aporch.

The attic-section 18 shown in Fig. 5 is a`half-cube, formed by cuttingon a diagonal plane, the resulting cross-section being 'a right-angledisosceles triangle..v The ends are printed as shown, with attic windows,and the' maniac Q l and may also be used as part of a chimney orfireplace on the outside of a house.

The dat square block 20 shown in Fi 7 is also an aliquot part of thebasic cube, eing one-fifth'thereo, and is intended tobe used under otherblocks, such as 10 and 11, to reprel sent the foundation of the house.For this purpose the block may be colored red orgreen or other solidcolor, and may, it desired, be printed on its edges to imitate masonry,as indicated.

Block 21, F ig..8, square in cross-section,

likewise an aliquot part of the basic cube, is

onetwenty-ifth of the latter, and is usefulv for chimneys, porchpilla-rs, doorsteps, etc., being painted an appropriate color, as red,green, bu', or-white.

W ith an assortment of the above blocks or building-sections a. greatvariety of miniature houses may be constructed, as illustrated in Fig.l5, for example, which-shows a number of such structures, employing thevarious units or sections in various ways. rlhus the house fat theextreme right on the far side of the street has a ground floor or firststory composed ot' six whole-story sections on six foundation-sections,and a second story composed of two whole-story sections (in the center)and twok half-story sections on each side. rlihe peak of the roof ismade of two roof-sections arranged end to end. `The porch is made of onefoundation-section, four "pillars, and one attic-section as the roof.

On the near side of the street the third house from the right has tworoof-section blocks set on end, one on the other,to represent theexternal portion of fireplace brickwork or masonry, with a pillar-blockon top to represent the chimney proper. On the far side of the street isa live-story apartment house with chimneys and a porch.

Fig. 15 also shows, in use, a number'of 'accessory parts which may vbeemployed to form the setting of the building or build-V ings and thuswiden the scope of the outlit and heighten the interest andattractiveness of the scene. The lawns, on either side of the roadwaymay be made of rectangular or board or other suitable materiaL paintedgreen with white, bu",.or light yellow stripes to represent the sidewalk23. The adjacent edges may be similarly colored to represent the curb.These sections may be entirely unfV attached to each other; or they maybevhlnged at the upper and lower surfaces alternately, by means ofcloth, for example, to permit folding in yzig-zag fashion as indicatedm'Fig.

10, for compactness when not in use, preventing loss, etc. The parlringstrips in the center of the roadway may also be made of sections 24, asindicated in Fig. 11, painted green with a curb 25. Holes, as 26, ma beprovided in the parking and lawn sections,l

,to receive maniature bushes',' trees, and lamp square sections 22, Fig.9, of strong pulp- A signature.

rions sections having on appropriate surfaces picture-representationslof Y uilding features, including ature buildings' of realistic apearance and proportions can be constructe ,having doors, windows,porches, chimneys, and roofs, differing in ground-plan and number ofstories. nature doors and windows; whereby mini! ln testimony whereoi llhereto ax my l JOHN nurnnnroan be erected, or it may be used as apattern on.

which the lawn and parking sections maybe laid. The outlit ma alsoinclude strips of suitably colored car board or paper, of variouslengths, to be used as walks\ from the street to the buildings, as inFig. 15. lf plastic modeling material is included, for use as anadhesive to secure the parts together, I prefer it to be of anon-staining or unp1gmented variety so that if the parts aredisassembled' it may be scraped or wiped E without leaving a colored`mark.

The outts. put up for sale can include as many varieties of parts., andas many of each,

as desired. @nel such outfit is' illustrated in Fig. 16, comprising astout box having a.

hinged lid 31 and containing removable trays, 32, for the various arts.For the elaborate g. assemblage of buildings shown in Fig. 15 the outfitvwould have, say, eight dozen wholestory units, three dozen half-storyunits, two

and a half or three dozen attic-units, twol dozen roof-units,.ve and ahalt` dozen foundation-units, and two and a half dozen' pillar,

and chimney units; as well asl the necessary lawn-sections,parking-sections? trees, and

other accessory parts. The outltmay also include pers ective or otherviews ofvone or more. buildings, for instance buildings shown in Fig.v15, as examples to guide the child,to

gether with printed suggestions' helpful inv making the toy entertainingand instructive.

ico

lt is to lbe understood that' lthe invention is not limited to thespecific'details herein described, since these may be varied withoutdeparture from the spirit of the invention'a defined by the appendedclaim. y `f I claimf- A building-block outfit for making toy buildings,comprising whole-story building-l 'I sections of uniform basic-cubesize, half-story building-sections of trapezoidal cross-section,

each a proper fraction of the basic cubevand having a. surface inclinedrelative to the outer surfaces," attic-sections of right-angledtriangular cross-section, each a proper fraction v of the basic cube,roof-sections of right-angled triangular cross-section, each a properfraction of the basic cube but smaller than the attic-sections,foundation-sections square in plan land rectangular in cross-section,each a proper fraction of the basic cube, and chimney and pillarsections square in cross-section, each a proper fract1on of the basiccube, va-v

